Afterwards I was talking to a friend. He made the comment that baseball is a very simple game: you throw the ball, you hit the ball, you catch the ball.
Then he added the most important part: it may be simple, but it isn't easy.
Hmmmm...How does this apply to your art career?
Well, it's very simple: you create art, you find customers, you sell your art to them.
Simple, right? But not easy. Let's look at each of these a little.
You need to make the best art you are capable of. While you can sell mediocre art, it is much easier to sell really good art. Besides, don't you want to show the world the best you can do? Yes, simple, but not easy.
Find customers...
Where do you find customers? Probably not in the middle of a forest.
You need to learn all you can about the types of customers you are trying to attract. Discover where they like to hang out, what their favorite food is, what movies they like. These days it's so much easier to do this with sites like Facebook. And of course, easier said than done.
Sell your art...
There are hundreds of books that have been written about how to sell. The single most important thing that most of these books say is that you need to make an emotional connection.
Art is a very personal thing. It may be pretty, but if the viewer doesn't have an emotional connection to the art, they are just going to pass it by.
So, how do you make that emotional connection? By telling the story. Simple to talk about, not so easy to do.
So now that you know the three simple steps to a more successful art career, how do you make the process easier?
By learning all that you can.
And while I may not be able to help you with creating better art, I can help with the other two.
Coming up on November 1 is my next class on Getting Started Selling Your Art at Shows. Then on November 9 I’ll be teaching another class on a subject that has yet to be determined. Go to Meetup.com to register for the classes. I hope you can join me and learn all you can to make your art career easier.
(Go Dodgers!)